John 12:14 Commentary and Bible Study

The voice of the people speaks first, now it is the voice of prophecy, second. John is very sketchy in his gospel, and abridges things here, because he knows that people are very familiar with the record of the other Gospels. This is from Zechariah 9.9, quoted – ‘Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.’ Christ rides on that animal, not a war horse, not a charger, but an animal of peacetime and peace, a lowly beast, a donkey. He rides in as the one who will suffer humiliation and make an atoning death for the sins of all who would be saved.First of all, it is a fulfilment of prophesy. Way back in the book of Genesis we read about how Jacob blessed his sons, each one being the head of a tribe. And he spoke about Judah, and how Judah, the tribe of Judah, Messiah would come from that line. And he said to Judah, ‘Shiloh will come’ - the One who will come, the Messiah, will come; and he will gather the people. And then he mentions this: that when he comes, he will come on a donkey’s colt. So the prophecy of Christ taking a donkey, and riding into the city in that way, begins back in the book of Genesis. And then, in the prophet Zachariah, in chapter 9, and verse 9, it comes again, ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.’ And Christ did just that, fulfilling prophecy. But what did it mean? Well, there are the crowds saying, ‘He is our deliverer, on earth, our material deliverer – he will make great this nation once again. He will be a king, a conqueror, an emperor’ - and he comes, according to prophecy, riding on a donkey. It is telling them the opposite. ‘O no, what I do, I do in humility. I come for humiliation. I come in lowliness. I come to serve. I come not as a man of war; I come as a man of peace.’ The donkey was the animal of peace; it wasn’t a great-war horse – it was the very opposite. It was the symbol of peaceful, tranquil, existence. And that is exactly what Christ came to do – to be a servant on behalf of all; to give himself up, to be crucified, and slain, to bear in his own body, and soul, the punishment of sin, for all those who would believe in him. And that is the reason why this was carried out.